Jack The Box

VOODEUX

I first found out about Voodeux in the winter of 2007 when I heard “The Curse” on a promo mix by Claude VonStroke. Right away I was blown away by the spooky and sexy sound. The creepy synths and the big pads just stuck with me. I think I played that track in every set for about 6 months and just craved more.

When I found out that they were launching their new full length album with a rare live performance in Detroit last year I had to hear it! I ran around like crazy that night, a psycho cab driver, and a huge line later there I was front and center, hands in the air once again blown away by their sound. I knew right then that I had to get them to Minneapolis and when I found out they were available during a fellow Particle Person’s birthday it was an obvious choice.

Not only are they amazing song writers and producers they are also funny and personable, I was happy to take some time for an interview with James and Tanner of Voodeux. What follows is our conversation as well as a special after hours JackCast from Tanner Ross and a stream of Voodeux’s promo set just to get a taste of what is to come this Saturday at Black.

Voodeux Promo live mix

Voodeux Live

Guys…  To start I would like to get you introduced, Could you tell us a little bit about the concept behind Voodeux?

James: The concept sprouted from the combination of my hermetic obsessions with the occult, and Tanner’s horror flick affinity.  It sorta grew on its own, and the whole thematic idea of what Voodeux stands for is still evolving.  I’m really into combining the funkiness of raw dance music and the deep hypnotic nature of techno.  It’s about creating tension and dramatic sequences and engaging the listener with white knuckles, unclear what’s around the corner.
Tanner: Ditto

You both live in different states, how is that? What is your writing process?

Voodeux: We just share project files and send them back and forth via internetz.

James and Tanner

Tanner and James, The last 3 years have been quite eventful for you two, from taking off on your own productions, a remix of the biggest underground track of 2007 (Tanners remix of “Who’s afraid of Detroit”) To the first big single on Mothership Records (the Curse) and now one of the hottest full length albums of 2009 on one of Americas top techno labels.  How does that feel?

Tanner: The past few years have been a huge whirlwind of craziness. I spent my last semester of college on an airplane doing the Voodeux tour and dj gigs. I was a music arranger and producer for a National Geographic Documentary. All of these experiences have really shaped who I am now. To be exact, I cannot put a finger on those details. My work ethic has really improved over the years. I used to just pick at ideas here and there and now I am staying focused. The result of the concentration is, productivity.

James: It’s been pretty exciting, but sometimes overwhelming when everything’s thrown at you at once.  It’s definitely given me the chance to discover what I like and don’t like, and how to find longevity within it.  Tourwise, eyes are open for meaningful events, where promoters pour their hearts into building creative experiences and creating landscapes for optimal listening.  As for the music, it’s great to have the wonderful support and vision from Barclay and Dirtybird/Mothership, as they put so much careful work into intelligently pushing things forward on a global scale.  Knowing The Paranormal is so well-received is great, and we’re harnessing that energy for our 2nd album.

Are there any new Voodeux projects in the works?
Voodeux: We are in the brainstorming process for the next album. Recording starts in Feb.

How did the relationship begin with Mothership and DirtyBird?
To make a very long story short…
A magical beam of light came out of the sky, following the beam, a seimic low frequency wave produced by an 808 bass hit me to the ground. I found the answer and everything has been absolutely fantastic since.

Just a Spoonfull

Voodeux: We are brothers from different mothers.

Tanner,  I recently read in an article where you mentioned you were just recently getting in to DJing the last few years.  What encouraged you to pick up such a nasty habit?

Tanner: I think it is just a natural progression for me. I love playing and I will continue to until I physically unable.

James, you have been producing records for years now.  I remember playing your records and reviewing them on Nu-breaks forum back in the early 2000’s.  How has your music progressed over the last few years and what new projects are you working on?

James: I hope it’s progressed and still progressing.  I’m working on EPs with Thoughtless and Harmonious Discord, and just finished a vocal album with Amagine, a time-traveling multidimensional MC here in Philly.  I’m staying busy, and one of the main focuses for 2010, and what I’m getting very excited about, is the Voodeux followup album.

Tanner, you seem to be busy as well, I heard a rumor of even a dubstep project, what can we expect from you in the near future?

I did work on about 6 dubstep tracks. After some thought I decided it wasn’t my calling. That said, I have learned a lot of new things by experimenting with that sound and it is starting to really effect the way I approach music. I am working on a bunch of new projects this year. I released an ep on Airdrop with Sergio Santos at the end of 09 and we are starting to work on our next ep along with a few remixes. Sergio and I are also working with Soulclap as a group called SECT. SECT is going to be releasing an ep on Culprit early this year followed by more eps. SECT came about because Chalrie of Soulclap has been my roommate for three years now aswell as Sergio and it wouldn’t make sense for Eli of SC to not work with us. I am really excited about this project, I think we are making something really special.

Both of you have amazing use of sound and sound design, Tanner I believe you even went to school for sound design. Its abundantly clear in both Voodeux and in your own productions. Any chance of a Sample Pack from you guys?

James: I dunno…  I like sample packs, but I found I have an incredibly short attention span for putting them together.  It seems like something that would better be created by us sitting in a room for 12 hours just recording strange and eerie noises nonstop.  That in itself could be dangerous.
Tanner: I don’t really have the time to do a sample pack. I have always wanted to make some really cool kits and such. Some day I will get around to it.

Mothership Records

James: Lots of granular synthesis.  Granular-To-Go, Grainstates, KTGranulator.  I’m also really digging Camel Audio’s Alchemy right now.
Tanner: Ditto and lots of reverb.

Another thing I love to ask and I think it really gives people some idea as to where you come from…  Whats on the Ipod, what do y’all listen to when its not Techno time, or is it always techno time for you?

Tanner: Missy Elliot is always on rotation along with Grave Diggaz, Timbaland and Magoo, Lil Wayne, Detroit Grand Pubas and random things. I don’t listen to techno much these days, more underground house music and music for the party after the after party.

James: No way, you can’t listen to techno all the time because it’s a dead-end street.  Inspiration comes from everything else.  You have the experiences, you hear the music, you’re moved by the music, and you go into the studio and pour out what you’ve learned.  Techno is a continuous ever-flowing tapestry of sound, a global collaboration of sonic synthesis.  Techno inspires more techno of course, but if there’s no other music, we reach a point where we’re just recycling the same sounds over and over.  I guess when that happens, we call it a “sub-genre” and move on.  For me though, right now I’m listening to the works of Jacaszek, Offthesky, and Steinbrüchel.  And I just had a spontaneous 12-hour Nine Inch Nails listening session the other day.  Dunno where that came from.

As an extra special treat, Tanner was nice enough to record a special after hrs mix for Jack the Box!

Tanner Ross JackCast010

Goldwill – Matikal
Nina Kraviz – I’m Gonna Get You
Wolf + Lamb – If U Had ( Shaun Reeves Edit )
Baeka – Right At It
Taron-Trekka – Shiori
Adrien – Underground
Nize & Nyce – Levon Whitney
SECT – Man Of Wisdom ( SECT=Soulclap, Sergio Santos and Tanner Ross)
Tanner Ross & Sergio Santos – Space Cakes
Nicolas Jaar – Time For Us

Join us this Saturday at BLACK for Voodeux Live with Residents Arron Bliss and Milosh

Interview by Aaron Bliss

I will be sure to share more on them next week as well but just a spoon full for now

AN INTERVIEW WITH VOODEUX --
Tanner Ross and James Watts make up the creepy techno duo called, “Voodeux.” These east coast tech wizards are debuting their first album on mothership this June.

—- Where did you guys meet and how did this project all get started?

JAMES::We met on a forum with musically like-minded folk years ago, and eventually began trading files back and forth to collaborate. I think the first thing we did was a ridiculously bass heavy grimey track. I’m not sure what happened to that, but I think I might laugh if I heard it today.

TANNER::To make a long story short… I stumbled upon a great producer named KiloWatts ( James ) and I contacted him just to say I really enjoyed his music and we built a friendship from there. When I was 20 I felt comfortable enough with my production skill to ask him if he wanted to collaborate on some music for fun. Fast forward 6 years and we put out a track on dirtybird called “Kruger Fingers”. This release is essentially what started the ” Voodeux ” sound. Fast forward a few more years and Mothership was born and we switched rosters and started fresh as Voodeux.

—- How did you come up with the name, Voodeux?

JAMES:: Our sound is focused on the eerie, dark and mysterious. We toyed around with a few names to suit that vibe, but settled on the idea of ‘voodoo’, a religion often based on the belief in mischevious spirits that interact with human affairs. We’re into unexplained paranormal phenomena, and hypnotic trippy techno can often bring about such things in the minds of listeners. So, we changed the spelling a bit, to suit the ‘two’ of us, and Voodeux was born.

TANNER:: We finished “The Curse” (on mothership) and we were trying to come up with a name for our new project. At the time I was watching this crazy ass video of Screaming Jay Hawkins doing “I Put A Spell On You” and he was dressed up in this wild Voodoo type costume and I thought… “THATS IT! VOODOO!”. I searched to see if there was already an artist named that and there was so I was trying to figure out how I could switch it up and have it still sound like Voodoo and I came up with Voodeux…

—- James, you already have an extensive production background with lots of releases under various aliases. Can you tell us about some of the things you have done in the past?

JAMES:: All of my solo material is done under the name KiloWatts, and collaborations usually take another name. Most recently Bil Bless and I have combined forces to create Skeetaz, and I’ve recently finished an album with MC Amagine out of Philly under the name Super Galactic Expansive, which ended up to be some kind of futuristic mind-warping digital hip-hop. For my solo releases, I’m following some sort of evolving path, making whatever seems natural to come next. Most recently is a nearly all-ambient album on Somnia Records.

—- Tanner, you are graduating from music school this summer. Can you tell us a little about the school, what you studied and how it effects your productions?

TANNER:: I study Berklee College of Music in Boston. Basically I study synthesis and sound design through applications like Logic, Prootools, Peak, C-sound, and modular stuff like the Nord G2 and Reaktor.

—- I know you guys produce together over the internet. How does that work?

JAMES:: It’s fairly easy because we can work on stuff without having to coordinate schedules. Tanner usually heads things off with the beats for continuity’s sake, and I’ll start with a bassline or a few loops. Back and forth we go, usually 2 or 3 times, and it’s done. It’s gotten quicker now that we understand each other’s production values and techniques. It’s easy to just roll with it now.

TANNER:: We basically create a project file and pass it back and forth via dropbox or servers until its done.

—- What can we expect form your new live show?

JAMES:: Violence!@

TANNER:: Well the album is very complex and almost song based so for the live show we are going to basically kinda.. make it a bit more underground and stripped down but try to keep some of the more complex elements in there as long as we can do it live.

—- The album is really creepy and moody, almost like a slasher film. Where did this sound come from?

JAMES:: On my end, the sound came from nightmares and bad trips. But there’s also a deeper hypnotic vibe I was trying to tap into that doesn’t necessarily always resonate with ’scary shit’.

TANNER:: Listening to a lot of Wagon Repair, Pokerflat, Nine Inch Nails, and Minilogue records while watching a lot of “Tales From The Darkside” plus David Lynch and Alfred Hitchcock films.

—- What do you think about the state of American techno?

JAMES:: There’s a lot of great music coming out of America. People who are paying attention realize this, even if it seems like everything’s coming out of Germany.

TANNER:: Thats a tough question… there are the American staples that are always contributing to building and keeping the scene fresh in America but labels like Mothership, Wolf + Lamb, Airdrop, Culprit, FXHE and Spectral Sound, which aren’t purely techno label but they are pushing the sound to the next level giving America a brand new super fresh reputation.

DOWNLOAD VOODEUX PROMO MIX HERE

Setlist From Demo Mix
Voodeux, ‘Just A Spoonful’
Rodriguez Jr, ‘Pina Colada’ (Voodeux Brew Mix)
Constar, ‘Sunset Tribe’ (Voodeux Dusk Mix)
Voodeux, ‘Deadend Motel’
Voodeux, ‘The Spell’
Voodeux, ‘The Curse’
Voodeux, ‘Skeleton Key’
Voodeux, ‘Bones’

BLACK VOODEUX